Free Money Finance

Money is Not the Root of All Evil

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

A couple weeks ago I was at a fundraising committee meeting for a charitable organization when the chairman said we were starting the meeting with a word of prayer. As he prayed, he said something similar to this, "We know that the Bible says money is the root of all evil, but we still need to discuss it to help those who are hurting."

Uh, nope.

I didn't say anything because 1) this guy was the chairman, 2) he was an older guy (around 65 -- trying to respect my elders), 3) I am the "new guy" on the committee, and 4) it really didn't matter at the time anyway -- we didn't do anything differently based on what he said.

The often misquoted "money is the root of all evil" comes from 1 Timothy 6:10. But it leaves out three key words. Here's the actual verse from the New International Version:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Notice the difference?

• Wrong: Money is a root of all kinds of evil.


• Right: The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. (my emphasis added)

So it's not that money is evil. Money is actually neutral and can be used for either good or ill. But it's the LOVE of money -- an all-consuming desire to get rich at any cost -- that causes people to do some pretty wacky things and make some poor choices. I think we could all list several examples of people we've known or read about who have fallen into this category.

Of course, there's another perspective. Here's a quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw: 

Lack of money is the root of all evil.

:)

There's no doubt that not having enough has also caused people to take some less than praiseworthy actions. So there's some truth in this as well.

So where does this leave us? IMO money is something that should be accumulated and used for good -- the good of caring for one's own family, the good of helping others, and the good of enjoying life. It shouldn't be LOVED (because that can lead you down the wrong path), but it should be USED (to accomplish your life goals).

What's your take on this issue?

A Scriptural Perspective of Debt

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Sound Mind Investing gives four reasons why God wants you debt free as follows:

1. Debt is considered slavery. (Proverbs 22:7)

2. Debt was considered a curse. (Deuteronomy 28:15, 43-44)

3. Debt presumes upon tomorrow. (James 4:13-15).

4. Debt may deny God an opportunity.

A few thoughts from me:

1. I have to agree with what they are saying. While debt is never forbidden in the Bible, it also is never mentioned in a positive light. That should tell us all something about the dangers of debt.

2. Even if you are not a Christian and have no use for the Bible, debt is still a bad idea. Why? Because it sucks your finances dry. Leading investing company Morningstar says, “Over a lifetime, the average American will pay over $600,000 in interest.” Yikes!

3. Because debt is so bad for you, it made my list of the worst money moves anyone can make.

4. In the debate over "good debt" and "bad debt", author David Bach says there's no such thing as good debt. While I wouldn't go that far (I would say borrowing for short periods of time for a house and/or education is acceptable), I generally agree with the spirit of his thoughts -- that debt is a killer.

5. These are some of the reasons why we have been debt free for 15 years now. And yes, that includes our mortgage. Imagine what your finances would look like if you had absolutely no debt. Pretty great, huh? I can tell you from personal experience, it IS pretty great. :)

6. If you're in debt and want to get out, here are my seven steps to get out of debt.  

Any other thoughts on debt, FMF readers?

Christian Thoughts on Retirement

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Recently the Christian Financial Alliance asked several bloggers the following question:

“What is one thing a Christian should keep in mind while thinking about/planning for retirement?”

Here was my response:

“That there’s no mention of retirement in the Bible — at least not the 'quit work and enjoy the good life' sort of retirement. From a biblical standpoint, you simply move from one thing (work, a career) to another (serving for a non-profit, sharing your experience with those who can benefit from it). So 'retirement' is not a vacation, simply a change of what you do during your 'working' hours.”

This response may come across as funny to some of you since I write so much about retirement. But if you read closely, I don't plan to save up a ton of money so I can do nothing/only relax. I plan to keep working as long as I can and, in particular, I hope some of that "work" can be time volunteering to help others.

What do you think of my answer?

Christian Financial Resolutions

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Recently the Christian Financial Alliance asked several bloggers the following question:

“If you could somehow, someway get all Christians to have the same financial New Year’s resolution…what would it be?”

Here was my response:

“Give at least 10% of their income to organizations that help the poor, hurting, and disadvantaged.”

This is where my focus is this year -- in both my giving as well as my volunteer activities. I want to help those who are needy, poor, left behind (in many ways) by society, etc. That's why I answered the way I did. Imagine what could be done for these people if the average Christian gave 10% away versus the 2-3% that studies show they actually give away.

What do you think of my answer?

Tithe or Die

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is a guest post from Tim at Faith and Finance, a Christian financial help blog that provides financial insights for individuals, businesses, and churches. Outside of finance, Tim enjoys spending time with his wife, playing the saxophone, reading economics books, and a good game of RISK or Catan.

There’s an ulgy story in the New Testament of the Bible that often gets brushed over.  It’s the account of how Ananias and Sappira die in Acts chapter 5 after bringing their offerings to be shared among the people. 

You see, after Christ’s resurrection from the dead, Peter and John led the spreading of the Gospel and were accompanied by a group of believers who also testified about Christ.  This group of believers were so closely knit that they sold all their possessions and shared everything to further the spreading of the Gospel. 

Acts 4:34 There were no needy persons among them.  For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. 

In reality, it was much more than a tithe.  People were willingly giving up all their possession to support the spreading of the Gospel.  The key here was that people were willingly giving up their possessions and weren’t being forced to sell everything. 

Now there was a couple named Ananias and Sapphira that sold everything, but decided to set money aside for themselves.  That wouldn’t have been a problem since they were free to use their money as they wanted, but they made it appear that they were giving everything away when they presented the sum of money to the apostles. 

As Ananias presented the money, Peter’s words must have gripped those in the room as he said, “You have not lied to men but to God.”  Ananias fell to the ground and died. 

Sapphira, Ananias’ wife, also was in on the secret and ran with the same story.  She too fell dead because she was dishonest. 

It wasn’t about the money; it was all about integrity.  While the rest of the group trusted God entirely with 100% of their possessions and relied on God to supply every need, Ananias and Sapphira decided that they needed to have a backup plan.  But to make matters worse, they made it appear as though they were being completely truthful in giving everything to God. 

The bottom line is that God saw right through it and he always does.  He doesn’t demand that we tithe or die – but he does make it clear that he hates dishonesty (Prov. 20:23, Ex. 20:15-16, II Cor. 8:21).

It’s a difficult story to read, but an important one nonetheless.  It reminds us to be honest with ourselves, with others, and most importantly to be honest with God. 

What are your thoughts on the story of Ananias and Sapphira?

Margin and Meaning

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from Building Your Financial Fortress in 52 Days: The Lessons of Nehemiah. This post is from Day 47.

Do it His way! His way means more of both margin and meaning. Simply put, margin is what we save and meaning is what we spend. Our significance is found in spending. Show me your checkbook and I will tell you definitively where your significance lies. The problem is that the places and the things most people spend their money, time, talents, and energy on are not meaningful. Finding one’s significance in things is temporary. That is why you must keep buying, keep spending, keep upgrading, because the thing or things you just bought will not satisfy for long. The American dream and the ideals of getting bigger, better, and more are not easily reconcilable with Christianity.

When you get to Heaven, do you think God is going to say, “Wow, millions died without knowing Me on your watch, but that fountain outside your house was gorgeous. And I loved your Hummer and centralized vacuum system. People saw those things and instantly dropped to their knees and gave their lives to Me.” Do you think anyone will come up to you and say, “I was orphaned when my parents starved to death, but your big- screen TV was my saving grace. Thank you.”

This is not to say that having things is bad, but some perspective is needed. When simply owning a car puts you in the elite 8 percent of the world’s population, does having a BMW seem as important? When the world’s health and education needs could be wiped out with the dollar amount that Americans spend each year on ice cream, does having the very best seem as satisfying? Always remember, our world is not the world.

The God-given desire for satisfaction will wrestle with our hearts and minds until we temper that desire, this time hoping to have long-term satisfaction. Then we find that we must anesthetize our hearts once again, and when the satisfaction wanes, Madison Avenue is quick to offer a new fix to inject into our hearts and bring us a very transitory joy.

As long as the money holds out and the series of injections continue, we will stay on that roller coaster, until we choose one of three paths. One, the path of the enlightened who saw this path of destruction and decided death was far better, two, the holders of hope who, even if logically futile, merely continue on with this destructive and meaningless lifestyle of spending and consuming, or three, those who choose to leave the destructive path and believe that there is a God who loves them deeply and is waiting for them right now with open arms, without rolling His eyes or shaking His head.

His nail-scarred hands are outstretched, a testament to the sacrifice He welcomed in order to save our souls from death in hell and to give us a life on this planet that is truly rich. Not the wimpy, unsatisfying riches of money and consumerism, but true, altruistic contentedness.

If we could take a step back, take a look at our lives, and eschew the worldly wisdom that bigger is better, we would see our path could never satisfy. His path is the only one that truly satisfies. That is why Nehemiah chose such an endeavor, gave up so much in the earthly sense, because he knew that what he gave up paled in comparison to the eternal greatness of following the path God had for him.

Here are some steps to take:

1st - Surrender: God, I will do it your way from now on; I surrender this part of my life that I have been holding back. (Remember Nehemiah’s prayer in Chapter 1:5-12.)

2nd - Come clean: Just stop it! Do it His way and you will avoid financial pain. It’s old school. It’s called obedience.114

3rd - Get out of debt, stay out of debt: Tell those people who say that debt is good that 1.8 billion people in the world live on one dollar or less a day, and one dies every second from hunger. If those folks really, truly cared about life they wouldn’t give another cent to the credit card companies in interest. They would invest in people’s lives.

4th - Start saving: Again, obedience.

5th - Get serious about investing: Not for the next forty years. I am talking about serious, intelligent investing; the kind of investing that saves lives. The money entrusted to us can either bring people to know God in a deeper way or send people to their deaths and many to hell. We can use money for our pleasures, comfort, and keeping up with the Joneses, but this nauseating life just gets more and more crazy as we continue on the treadmill of debt. Or we can use money to glorify Him.

This runs completely contrary to conventional financial wisdom and that is why I love it so much. If the world is so good at handling money, why aren’t there more content, satisfied people who are chasing money as a way of life? I call them financial hedonists—seeking money and what money can acquire as a way of life. Much different from the Christian hedonist, as John Piper coins it, “My shortest summary of Christian hedonism is: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

God’s idea of financial hedonism is found in multiple places in His Scriptures. The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to Timothy and basically said to him, “Tell those with more money than they need to not put their trust and hope in it because, frankly, you can’t trust money. You never know what may happen to it, but trust God, and remember it is okay to enjoy it as gift from God. But if you want great joy, the joy that will last through this life and throughout eternity, the amount of money you have been entrusted with can show people who your God is, and will bring people to know Him. Thus, people will be going to Heaven instead of hell because of your generosity.”

So upgrade your desires today.

Oh, No, or Ono?

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from Building Your Financial Fortress in 52 Days: The Lessons of Nehemiah. This post is from Day 43.

As if Nehemiah needed more trouble. Two out of the three stooges were at it again. They sent him a FedEx five times in row. They wanted him to stop the project and just talk to them about what was up and to give them a chance to explain things. True, they had plotted to kill him and overthrow the people, they had mocked him, ridiculed him, and were even anti-Semitic, but this time they just wanted to be friends and meet at Starbucks across town in a neutral location over tall, double-caramel macchiatos. They couldn’t imagine Nehemiah saying no.

He did. He was focused on finishing. There were many lives hanging in the balance that were depending on him.

He saw through their deception. He sent this response: “... I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”

Are you looking for a reason to stop? A great deal on a vacation, an interest-free credit card, a low mortgage rate, a bargain you cannot live without? Nehemiah knew this was not the time to shop or chitchat. It was time to finish strong and not allow any hurdles to be thrown into the financial mix by the enemy.

The evil one knows your soft spots. He knows what turns your head: the mall, the emails, the Internet, the mail, the dollar store. You actually know, too. It is not time for a diversion; it is time for focus.

You will be told, “You deserve it,” “You’ve earned it,” “You worked hard for it,” “It’s yours.” Don’t go to the plain of Ono. But maybe you are thinking right now, “I can’t live like this forever!” so you will take this moment to check out of this financial fortress building and release a little steam, and then, after no harm is done, you will just go back and finish.

Beware of the cunning deception of your enemy. You cannot abandon your financial fortress while you build it up. That is what you are faced with, that is what has happened in the past.

This time will be different. You can make it. You are almost there. Don’t stop. Focus on the goal, focus on the reward, focus on the celebration you will have upon completion of the milestones along the journey. For example, have something to look forward to when paying off a credit card or making great progress on another debt. Having something tangible to look forward to will make it easier during this ‘season of sacrifice.’ Plan low-cost fun now so when you achieve milestones you can record the date and the place you celebrated. Perhaps you will go to your favorite restaurant for paying off a certain amount of debt or eliminating a credit card that has had a balance for as long as you can remember. This time the food and the memory will be so much sweeter than the times when you were in debt and eating out was no big deal.

Celebration? We do that as followers of Christ? Oh, yeah, like no other partying ever. I am talking about all the pleasure without the guilt, pain, and heartache that is negotiated with every purchase of the world’s deal.

Make a list of all of the weak spots you have and keep them front and center on the fridge. When the message comes, you will see that the evil one has no new tricks to deceive you with; they’re just his old standbys. Give the list to a friend or a family member and ask them to call or email you periodically to check out how you are doing. This will draw the two of you closer and cause that person to evaluate areas in his or her life that may be susceptible to the enemy.

Here are a few “Ono’s” that the evil one will bombard you with multiple times until you relent and give in:

Autos

The advertisements will be daily, not just once a day, but multiple times per day. Television, billboards, magazines, newspapers, radio, email, Internet, and direct mail will all try to get to you. You will not be able to stop them and eventually something they say will make you think you need a new car. In most cases the used car you have, that you have been taught to hate, is costing much less than a new car payment, not to mention the associated additional costs.

Credit Cards

They are perhaps even more aggressive than the automobile companies and more profitable. Refrain unless you are juggling from a higher interest rate to a much lower rate and you would be paying much more on that debt as a result.

Entertainment and Miscellaneous

This little culprit is responsible for consuming what little the family has left to live on or the amount that could be invested in the life-change of others. Give yourselves an allowance and put it in cash if you cannot resist using plastic. Don’t squander the savings, though. This is easy to do. I cut my hair for an entire year to save the ten to fifteen dollars, but I did not put the money away in any type of account or envelope so that money was just spent on something else. So I went a whole year with ugly hair (since I had no idea what I was doing) and had nothing to show for it. The next year I got a little smarter. If I was to have bad haircuts, I was going show people why I had such a bad haircut with the cash in an envelope. This helped my self-image quite a bit.

The Secret to Riches!

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from Building Your Financial Fortress in 52 Days: The Lessons of Nehemiah. This post is from Day 37.

What a loser. Nehemiah will never get ahead by missing these opportunities of a lifetime. His mother and father will not be able to say of him, “My son is doing so very well. He is the governor of a big city.” No, their son-bragging would sound like this, “Our son is in ministry, worked for the king and was doing very well and now he is helping people. But he will do well again, someday; he’s a good boy and such a hard worker. And he’s so nice too.” You see the difference. We are judged, measured, sized up, “atta–boyed,” and bragged upon by how well we do. Nehemiah was filthy rich. Well, not exactly filthy, more like righteously rich. Somehow that just has a better ring to it.

Deep down inside, most of us believe that if you do not do well—the money, the earthly possessions, the land—you really are not successful. But what if God’s idea of success is the polar opposite of the world’s view? Nehemiah believed this with all of his heart. No other explanation could be given for the changes that took place in his heart and the actions that followed.

He came face-to-face with history repeating itself regarding slavery. He abolished slavery. He shared with a generosity that could not be repaid. He embraced giving without any possibility of being repaid and led by example to his own financial detriment. He then made the first public law, which was, interestingly, a financial law. The law stated that anything taken from a debtor would be given back to him or her, including houses, land, crops, and money plus the interest charged to them.

Not just giving them back what was held as collateral? No. Everything. Including the interest charged. Rewarding the debtors? It might seem so, but it was wiser than that. Debts were forgiven, second chances had been distributed, and a new law not to borrow was in place.

What was the penalty for a violation of this law? May God shake out of His house and possession every person that did not obey this law. Remarkably, not only those who were in debt favored such sudden economic freedom, but also everyone praised God for this oath, which they took.

Is it fair that those who borrowed did not have to repay? No. Was it right that those who loaned got stuck without their principle or any interest? No. Was this a way to fundraise? No. Was this a way to lift people? Oh, yes! When the source of our hope and survival is revealed and the result is something or someone other than God, we are forced to choose sides. Remain with the god who cannot see our pain or hear our cries for help, or upgrade to the God who is far more powerful than 1 percent per month—the amount they were charging each other for interest on money in Nehemiah’s day.

Nehemiah knew he had been called to this royal position for such a time as this. Okay, so he is not Esther, who, roughly thirty years earlier, heard those exact words from her cousin Mordecai, just before she performed the most courageous act of her life.

The evidence of a life that was completely convinced that Heaven was its home and people were its Master’s love made Nehemiah a prisoner to the truth—land had no stronghold. He invested there, not here. He demonstrated the life Jesus Christ himself showcased and had recorded in duplicate form by both the former tax collector Levy in Matthew 6:19-34 and retold by Dr. Luke in his account from Luke 12:32-34.

Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselve that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Nehemiah showed the people by example how to choose true riches and take hold of the life that is truly life. Now it is your turn to invest heavily in where you are going to spend eternity. Right before Joshua died at the age of one hundred, he challenged the people in the same way that years earlier he had challenged them. They must choose one of their earthly gods or Almighty God who had brought them out of slavery, kept them safe, and given them land, food, and freedom. They made a covenant to follow the one true God, and put a stone next to an oak to remind them daily of their sober commitment.

Today, get a rock or a paperweight and set it up on a shelf or a table and say to God that you will put your complete financial trust in Him, and, as in Joshua’s day, say it out loud so that the rock or paperweight hears you. It may sound a little odd, but why not have a constant reminder in your home that stares at you every day as a reminder of the commitment you made and Who you made it to?

The Fair Tax

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from Building Your Financial Fortress in 52 Days: The Lessons of Nehemiah. This post is from Day 36.

Forty shekels add up to about a pound of silver. In today’s monetary value, silver is around fifteen dollars an ounce and there are sixteen ounces in a pound, so that comes to $240 per person. That would pay for a great deal of the city’s services. Nehemiah could have said, “People have no idea how much it takes to run a city government. I am not putting this money in my pocket; I am investing it in them.”

That would certainly be a reasonable statement. But Nehemiah said neither. He decided to fund the part of the project that was unwritten by King Artaxerxes. This was much more than I am sure he expected. But he remembered the money- hungry men who preceded him and he would not even breathe like them. Their god was their stomach, but Nehemiah’s God was the greatest of all treasures, and his citizenship was in Heaven.

The city was tax-free. If the people didn’t pay for the public services, then who would? Nehemiah was willing to trust God to stretch his nest egg and foot the bill for this gigantic family. What he did not have, God would provide. He would not have been a good politician today. He certainly wouldn’t make it on a corporate board; the stockholders would reject such a “Boy Scout.” He would have made it on only a few church boards with his radical financial beliefs. Certainly the learned board members would attempt to groom him to become a bigger and better disciple through borrowing and bonds. But Nehemiah had a new focus, a new hunger for true riches, and a new desire for his eternal home. He was focused on life change; he was addicted to a God who satisfies.

Fifty-two days of this tax-free stuff is plausible, even commendable. It may have gotten him re-elected. But Nehemiah did this for twelve years. Nehemiah’s faith was stretched daily. His dependence on himself was non-existent. His God was big.

What if our God gets this big? Could we trust Him as much as we trust ourselves? More?

We were remodeling the kitchen at the office. The handyman brought us a slightly used almond-colored dishwasher to use and we accepted the gift, but decided to use the one that was still operating. We had the almond-colored dishwasher in the hallway for weeks until we decided to set it outside for drive- by scavengers to pick up some evening. They did, and we were happy to unload it. After all, it was almond colored.

Every Thursday, we would close the tax and accounting practice and wear a different hat—the financial counselor hat.

Renee came in for an appointment one day. She was a single mom who I had not seen for a few months. She sheepishly revealed a new credit card bill, a Sears account with a balance of $555, at 18 percent interest and subject to higher APR. I asked what the story was. She said her dishwasher went out, and she really wanted a particular color and could not imagine such a foolish prayer to God. A request for a dishwasher, sure, but a particular color? No! Now that takes the cake.

Can you imagine every man, woman, and child in the world bothering God for the exact color of what they are asking for? What is He? The Sears Catalog? QVC? The Internet? No way, God ain’t no vending machine. As C.S. Lewis said, “He is good, but He is not tame.” But does that mean you don’t ask for a color and settle for whatever He wants to give you and you will like it or else? No, that is not what C.S. Lewis was saying.

Such a good God, coupled with the closeness of a best friend, results in a satisfying trust—a trust that knows whatever He provides is the best because He promises “... no good thing will I withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”

So whatever happened to Renee? When she mentioned she bought a dishwasher and had to charge it because she had no money and she wanted a certain color and God couldn’t fill her order, I had to sheepishly ask the question, “You didn’t happen to need an almond-colored dishwasher, did you?”

She said, “Yes, that is exactly the color I wanted!”

I told her how I was given a dishwasher that I didn’t need and so I put it outside after some calls to folks that might have needed it. She said, “I thought about calling you, but I was embarrassed to ask for a certain color.” I told her that dishwasher should have gone to her. She left knowing a bigger, more-loving God than she came in with. So can you.

Greed is the Absence of Trust in a Rich God

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from Building Your Financial Fortress in 52 Days: The Lessons of Nehemiah. This post is from Day 35.

What happens when we have egg on our faces? What if your failure is much worse than mine? Are you wrong and am I right? What if God reveals to us that we all have been tempted by greed? Simply put, greed is the absence of belief in a God who provides generously.

Think about it for a moment.

We get caught up in the refinance game, the allure of flipping property, investing in risky investments, or that sure thing that will double, even triple our holdings. We question that if we follow the biblical axioms such as slow and steady brings prosperity or “... he who gathers little by little makes it grow,” in the old-school way, we will be seen as foolish.

Nehemiah could either spin the blame on someone else, minimize his involvement in the greed scheme, or just face it, confess it, and make a statement and a law that would keep everyone honest, accountable, and fully aware of the pain of not managing finances God’s way.

The Mosaic Law prescribed lending without interest to a fellow countryman, but charging foreigners since ideally they would come to town for profit. What should catch our eyes in verse 10 of Nehemiah 5 is the word usury. We think of this in terms of credit cards, check-cashing stores, even loan sharks, but in Nehemiah’s time the “hundredth part” was 1 percent. To charge 1 percent per month would be considered usury.

But it wasn’t so much the charging of interest that was so wrong. It was their lack of faith in God’s provision if they didn’t take matters into their own hands. They felt that in order to survive, it was absolutely necessary to charge interest to even the poorest of people. Those people, of course, were working without pay on the city and they were the same ones who had formerly been enslaved and were now extremely poor. This was where they doubted God’s promises. This is where we doubt God, too.

Josephus explains the Law and the spirit of the Law in Nehemiah’s day: “Let it not be permitted to lend upon usury to any Hebrew either meat or drink; for it is not just to draw a revenue for the misfortunes of a fellow countryman. Rather, in consoling him in his distress, you should reckon as gain the gratitude of such persons and the recompense that God has in store for an act of generosity.”

The more benevolent they were, the less they would earn, and subsequently the less they would have for themselves. Therefore, human nature compels us to seek a profit even at someone else’s expense, as the simple Maslow hierarchy of needs explains. But that is where we go wrong.

We default in our thinking and acting when we engage in the belief that “we will take it from here.” Thus, trusting in God to provide for us is a foolish decision. In Nehemiah’s case he may not have been getting interest on his loans, but he was certainly not planning on writing off the debt. Interest-free is one extreme, but lending without expecting anything in return is just plain dumb. Here is what our hearts say, “If everyone did this we would all be broke.”

Plain and simple, greed says that I cannot trust whoever or whatever my god is and must take matters into my own hands. I must truly lean on my intellect, my abilities, and my power and do what I need to do to survive and thrive.

Nehemiah had experienced the power, provision, and pleasure of an intimate sweetness with God. Could he trust Him for what he was about to do? This was the first step.

God did not force it out of his hands. Nehemiah saw his lack of faith was exactly the same as the usury being charged by some of his people to one another. This enlarged Nehemiah’s faith like no other single action in the area of finance. Had he not associated himself with those who were doing things even more abusive, he may not have considered exempting his people from tax, a move that could have proved to bankrupt this new city.

Nehemiah trusted God not only with his possessions and his ability to earn money, but he trusted the Provider to take care of him as he followed and listened to Him.

This single event changed Nehemiah’s future financial goals forever and gave us a pattern to follow for generations. Now it is your turn. Nehemiah set the standard and it started with trusting God financially. He and his people stopped lending, loans that were outstanding were forgiven, and the interest charged given back. No financial book could or would ever be written endorsing these types of foolish financial techniques.

This entire book was inspired by the actions and change in Nehemiah’s heart as recounted in Chapter 5 of his memoirs. These clear violations of the world’s way of handling money either cause a contradiction or a confirmation of the wisdom of God’s economy. Clearly throughout history man has tried it the world’s way. The extent of this mindset has turned people into profit, and we have used people and loved money. God’s way is just the opposite—use money to love people.

Nehemiah tapped into the love channel. Read my lips: “No more greed.”

Debt, Death, and Taxes

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from Building Your Financial Fortress in 52 Days: The Lessons of Nehemiah. This post is from Day 34.

The enemy is within, the permanent resident in our hearts that is the DNA for all financial failure. It lies dormant until it is awakened by the stimulation of greed. Not many would use the word greed to describe their financial actions. Words like savvy investments, moderate risk, growth positions, and even helping people sound much more commendable.

But in Nehemiah’s time, the day of full disclosure came screeching to a literal stop. The people could be attacked at any moment. They were threatened by an unknown enemy that lurked in the night; they were in danger and worked constantly to build up the exposed and vulnerable places behind their homes, and now, after about a month of this, the bills were due. The real world. You know, the Monday after the sermon that inspired you, the reality of your beliefs is put to the test.

Almost a thousand years after Nehemiah, men, women, children, and entire families in Ghana would be corralled like cattle, a thousand at a time. They were forced by merchants of greed to pass through a narrow doorway, never to return. Three million Africans were violently abducted—families experiencing each other’s love, working and developing their skills together, living their lives. And then the great holocaust of the 1600’s and 1700’s occurred and they were herded through a single doorway that now reads: “Door of No Return.” Not only in Ghana, but capturing countless souls from other abduction ports as well.

These profiteers sold human beings as machines. Human trafficking at its most elaborate and most organized. Opportunists from all corners of the globe cashed in on the financial gain. Many who called themselves “Christians.”

How could a Christian force 1000 Africans into a hull of a ship and sell or buy other humans without considering Paul’s words in a letter he wrote to the church in Philippi, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Are Christians immune to sin? No, unfortunately. Perhaps the most popular, yet most socially acceptable, sin in most Christian circles is greed. Greed is not good, but it ain’t bad, so we harbor it in our hearts. This is what we have all heard: “We have to make a living.”

“I am not a greedy person; I just like nice things.”

“To be a Christ-kid I will name it and claim it and live with great abundance.”

However, since the beginning of recorded history, the desire for money has an hallucinogenic effect on us and, as a result, has turned countless humans from the faith and pierced them with many a grief.

May the atrocities of the past never be forgotten, and, more importantly, may they never be repeated. This can only take place by being true followers of Christ. Education about slavery will remind us of our heinous crimes against humanity, but will not prevent new generations from similar sins.

The only remedy is to truly follow Christ and His example. He showed us the most basic way to live when He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” There is a debt to pay to those who have been wronged—a debt that should never be paid off, and payments should be made daily. It is the debt to love one another more than ourselves. Let’s start paying this enormous and very delinquent debt.

Nehemiah’s people thought they were surviving. They did what they had to do in their own understanding of finance. This meant, “If I have something you need you can borrow it with interest. I need to survive too.” This practice takes time-tested business principles and merges them into everyday, family life. The problem is that it leaves no room for faith and a God that honors such faith.

Nehemiah’s people knew all too well about being treated as dollar-store items, and traded like baseball cards. Years earlier they were pardoned, bought back, and liberated from the tyranny of slavery.

But what happened next is a scheme only perfected by the evil one. Not one of Nehemiah’s people would have condoned slavery when they were oppressed, but when faced with the opportunity to lend to their own brothers, and perhaps to make a meager profit, they opened the door to great opportunity for a familiar pain. After a short while the have-nots were in debt to the haves, and falling deeper into bondage.

It is your turn. With eyes wide open to where you are or where you are going, it is time to stop the train that is on the wrong track or has already derailed, and do it God’s way financially. You do not have to be enslaved to the bondage of debt, greed, or any other lesser gods.

What to do next? Come back next week...

Strategic Tools for the Mission

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from Building Your Financial Fortress in 52 Days: The Lessons of Nehemiah. This post is from Day 14.

Financially, you are motivated to get going, to jump into the how-to’s, the nuts and bolts, and see the progress. But before that we have to unpack the financial stuff that will delay our progress and pack up the tools that will get us closer to the goal of building our financial fortress.

Nehemiah made two strategic requests of the king. He knew he not only needed the king’s blessing, but also his assistance in this tremendous undertaking. He asked the king for a letter to the governors of the surrounding cities so he would be safe in traveling to Jerusalem and to put the other governors on notice that he had their boss’s approval for such an undertaking.

As a result, this letter would also appoint Nehemiah governor of this broken-down city in Judah. His second request was a letter to the keeper of the king’s forest to give wood to repair the city and to make a home that he would occupy. The king did all that, plus he sent out the cavalry to protect Nehemiah.

Our tools for the mission after surrendering our financial lives to the Creator is knowing that the life of obedience is not a life of taking away our freedom, but one of unequalled and unparalleled freedom. It is freedom from the pain of financially poor decisions, the freedom of now having margin in your finances.

You will have the freedom from the consuming power of money, and you will also have the freedom from debt. The Word of God describes debt as bondage or of being a slave to the lender.

Thousands of people I have counseled, coached, emailed, or spoken to in groups have expressed the truth of this Scripture.

The way we accomplish this is to know exactly where the money is going and how much is coming in. Take a pad of paper, or download a free thirty-day diary from our website and start recording every cent that comes in and goes out.

This exercise may cure some right off the bat. There are many who would rather not spend than have to write down every cent spent. If that is you, you may have already won, as Publisher’s Clearinghouse would say.

To reach your goals you have got to know what your goals are and then start a spending plan. We will not use the term budget, because nobody likes it.

This will allow you to better utilize other tools to show you in which areas you need to reduce spending and increase income for a season. As my good friend and fellow financial counselor Stuart Easterly says, “This is the season of sacrifice.”

Understand that this will not be forever; this is only boot camp. You will be able to tell yourself, “I, with God’s help, can make it during this time of sacrifice.” After the season is over and you look back at the time it took to achieve your goals, you will see God’s hand as He carried you through many tough times.

Remember, you are obeying God by changing your lifestyle, getting out of debt, and increasing margin in your life.

Once you have a spending plan, you need to place restrictions on yourself. Maybe you have to put yourself on a cash-only system or avoid the places where you are tempted. In order for the spending plan to work, you must adhere to it 100 percent, with no exceptions.

Christians Are Better Investors

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Ha! That headline is sure to get people stirred up! I'm betting I get at least one nasty comment from a person who reads it but not the post. ;-)

Seriously, though, I do not think that Christians per se are better investors than anyone else. Nor do I think they are worse than anyone else.

The headline is in reference to a Market Watch piece that highlights the great performance of two Christian investment newsletters. One of them is Sound Mind Investing, a company I used early in my investing days and that I think very highly of. In particular, their book The Sound Mind Investing Handbook - A Step-By-Step Guide To Managing Your Money From A Biblical Perspective 5th Ed is excellent! Even if you are not a Christian, the guidance in the book is sound and the thoughts on investing are top-notch IMO, especially for the beginning investor.

If you're interested in getting some Christian-based guidance on your investments, I can't think of a better option than Sound Mind Investing (no, this is not a paid endorsement -- I really do like them.) I've written about them quite a bit, so to get more information on SMI check out these posts:

• Review: Sound Mind Investing


• Review: Sound Mind Investing Website


• The Four Levels of Sound Mind Investing


• Asset Allocation and Investing Temperament the Sound Mind Investing Way


• Sound Mind Investing's Just-the-Basics Strategy


• Sound Mind Investing's Upgrading Strategy

Are Christians Poor Tippers?

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Here's an uncomfortable piece from Daily Finance that says Christians are poor tippers. It talks about Christians who go to restaurants and then use a fake $10 bill tract to spread their faith, instead of leaving a tip. Some highlights:

"Christians don't tip very well," he wrote for The Lutheran magazine in January 2009. "As a matter of fact, we're pretty cheap. What makes this worse is that we paint 'cheap' with a religious-sounding veneer and call it 'being a good steward.' Nothing like hiding behind the Bible to camouflage your stinginess."

One woman wrote back: "It was almost 100 percent true that the worst tips were on a check with a Bible verse or fish symbol."

This is a particularly uncomfortable phenomenon to face for a community that values generosity, justice and service.

But if you read the piece, it's full of little data supporting the conclusion. There are lots of single-person quotes that they use to support their point-of-view. The only actual data quoted actually says the opposite of what the article concludes:

An empirical study on this topic was conducted recently by Michael Lynn of Cornell University. He found that Christians are not in fact bad tippers; they gave an average of 17.3% for good service, well inside the 15% to 20% norm.

In the end, I don't think Christians are particularly good or particularly bad tippers. I'm guessing they are average. If you look at giving numbers you could easily make this conclusion -- Christians give about the same percentage of their incomes as non-Christians.

I think the main point here is that if you want to leave some information for a server and want them to receive it favorably, don't be cheap with the tip. Kinda common sense, no?

Giving 101: A Crash Course on Biblical Giving, Part 3

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Secret of Generosity, an excellent book on what the Bible says about the power of generosity. This is a continuation from part 1 and part 2 of this series where the author is discussing the keys to biblical giving.

Get involved:  The Bible calls us to do more than write checks.  For lack of a better cliché, we must get our hands dirty in the work of the gospel.  Often, we are far too passive regarding our financial contributions.  We put money in the plate and move on, rarely being a part of the redemptive work of our gifts.  The Bible calls us higher.  Getting involved in the areas we are financially investing assures our hearts and fuels our desire to become increasingly devoted to God’s work in the world.

In my observation, I have noticed that mature Christians tend to give in less places but give more generously, intentionally, and consistently.  They become increasingly involved in the places and purposes to which God has called them.  Immature givers tend to write random checks whenever something strikes an emotional chord (and rarely accompany their gifts with personal involvement).  This isn't necessarily bad, but it lacks purpose, calling, and intentionality.

Find your calling:  Beyond the basic tenets of Christian giving, I believe God intentionally puts specific people, places, and causes into the hearts of His children.  He puts desires within us—burdens us with a calling to minister in a specific way—and then moves us to invest deeply in that place.  Where is your heart?  Orphans?  Asia?  Single moms?  Unreached people groups?  Students?  The inner city?  The homeless?  Children?  Widows?  The abused?  Third world countries?

We are all different, and God authored those differences to point us in the direction of His unique calling for our lives.  I once had a college student I was mentoring confess:  “I would rather sneak Bibles into a closed country than volunteer in the children's wing!”  He was serious!  We are all different, very different, and this is intentional.  Start diving into the desires that the Lord has purposefully placed upon your heart to do His work.  He has given your soul a passion to minister in a unique way.  If you haven’t found it yet, start searching.

The radical and redemptive generosity to which the Bible calls us will only emerge when we are giving from passionate desires deep within our souls.  Find those passions.  The more in tune we are to the specific callings that God has placed upon our hearts, the more eager we become to give generously.

Create a plan:  Our giving should be systematic and strategic.  Spontaneous giving has a place but not as our overall approach to generosity.  We are selfish sinners and relying on our impulses will seldom lead to radical giving; consequently, our financial life is best governed by specific and intentional planning.  At the same time, we need to be careful that we do not let a formula dominate our sense of generosity. 

Like any other aspect of our walk with Christ, we have to avoid the temptation to turn the symphony of God into sheet music.  While we most certainly are instructed to give careful consideration to our ways, a part of us remains that must be content to dance within the deep mysteries of God (Rom. 11:33-36).  If we focus too little on the details, we get off beat and out of key; however, if we focus too much on the details, we stop hearing the music.  I pray we would all strive for a systematic intentionality that does not suffocate real relationship.

Create an account:  I believe that creating a separate account specifically for giving is one of the most powerful things Jordan and I have done on our own journey of generosity.  We separate what belongs to the Lord as soon as we receive it.  Then, the resources are already there—ready and waiting for the Lord's leading.  Before doing this, giving generously required getting out the budget, moving things around, and recalculating (which often resulted in a loss of interest or inspiration before any money was actually given).  Separating money for the Lord's purposes is simple, liberating, and enables a stingy person like myself to give joyfully.

Be creative:  I challenge all of us to start thinking outside of the box when it comes to our giving.  There are countless ways and places that we can invest in eternity.  Opening our minds to the leading of the Spirit will create exciting new opportunities for the kingdom of heaven.

Give something other than money:  Following along the lines of our previous point, I offer a peculiar challenge:  Consider taking your first step of generous giving outside of the financial realm.  I know this sounds like strange advice that seems to completely dismiss the last several chapters but consider the following.  There is something too easy (and tempting) about walking away from the call to live out the  gospel in loving, worshipful, servant-hearted, sacrificial, and selfless generosity thinking:  “All right, I will increase my giving five percent.”  Let's be honest, ratcheting up our giving a notch or two is usually one of the easiest ways to increase our generosity.  Instead, we ought to challenge ourselves to find ways to be generous that will change our heart not just our budget.

Grow:  We discussed this in an earlier chapter, but I believe it is worth mentioning again.  Our giving is a dynamic of our spiritual life that requires constant prayer, reflection, and communication with God.  We can't allow such a vibrant and life-giving area of our journey with Christ to fall into a rut.

Final thought:  Honor students

Honor students give God all the honor, glory, and praise. In all of these things, remember that God's grace and God's glory are the power and purpose behind any attempt at living generously.  As soon as we depart from this, we rely on our own abilities and resources to be generous.  The world will only be shaken when we allow Christ to be generous through us.

Giving 101: A Crash Course on Biblical Giving, Part 1

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Secret of Generosity, an excellent book on what the Bible says about the power of generosity.

After writing, reading, and reflecting over this book, I felt it needed one more chapter.  Though I wanted this work to focus primarily on the heart of generosity, I believe a few pages on the practical instructions of scripture for our giving would be beneficial.  Therefore, the following chapter is designed to provide a crash course on biblical guidelines for giving.  I have chosen to limit my scriptural references for the sake of brevity and encourage readers who would like a more in-depth analysis to pick up a copy of Dollars and Doctrine.

Flunking the course

I remember a history course I took in college.  The professor, after a brief introduction, turned to face his new students and said:  “Let me tell you how at least ten of you are going to fail this class.”  He went on to explain that the bulk of our grade would be coming from our term paper, and if any of us used the Internet to research in any capacity (which he believed was singlehandedly dismantling the world of academia), we would automatically fail—no exceptions.

While finding out two minutes into class that ten percent of us would be repeating the course was anything but encouraging, I have to admire the clarity of his communication.  In light of calling this chapter “Giving 101”, I want to take a moment to do the same thing—to expose the ideas surrounding generosity that the Bible gives a failing grade.

Legalistic giving:  Generosity will never save a soul.  When we make giving necessary for conversion or continuance in the faith, we have abandoned the gospel.  We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone.

Prosperity gospel giving:  The health and wealth gospel distorts scripture to self-serving ends.  Ironically, it twists the very idea of generosity towards consuming instead of contributing (elevating self-interest above God's interests).

Social justice giving:  While Christian giving does alleviate the pains of poverty, this is not the end in itself.  The gospel, and the God of it, must go with our contributions.  Otherwise, we have turned what is spiritual into social idealism.

Heartless giving:  In more than one location, the Bible teaches that a person's giving can be worthless.  We must stop thinking that as long as we put money in the plate everything is ok.  God requires wholehearted generosity.

There are bits and pieces of these in all of us, but we must see them for what they are and leave them behind.

Essentials

I believe the following principles, though they will vary in application from one believer to the next, are irreplaceable components of sound, biblical generosity.

Give first (Prov. 3:9, Ex. 34:26):  The Bible consistently stresses  the idea of giving first.  When God is put first in our budget, it shows that He is first in our hearts (and shows that we trust in His provision).  On the other hand, when God gets what is left over after we are all done spending on ourselves, we prove that His kingdom is not our top priority.  Giving first is a symbolic action of our heart's allegiance.

Give wholeheartedly (2 Cor. 9:7, 1 Chron. 29:17):  Grace-based giving insists our contributions are to be willing and authentic.  Heartless offerings do not bring glory to God.  We must allow Him to transform us into willing, joyful givers.

Give secretly (Matt. 6:1-4):  Jesus instructed His followers to give in secret.  We must avoid the temptation to give generously so that we may be honored by men.  As best as we are able, we must seek to keep our name separated from our gifts.  This allows all the glory and gratitude to rise to the Father rather than us.

Give sacrificially (2 Sam. 24:24, Mark 12:44):  The Bible calls our giving to follow the example of our Savior's sacrifice.  God is glorified when we give in a manner that costs us something.  If we part only with what is leftover after we pay the bills and ourselves, then we have little to say of our love for the Lord or our devotion to His kingdom.  However, when we sacrifice so that we may extend the work of the gospel, we have room to speak of our dedication and affections.

Give proportionally (Acts 11:29, Ezra 2:69):  The principle of proportional giving is biblical.  Those with more are called to give more, and those with less are called to give less.  This is different than percentage giving (in which all believers give a certain percentage).  Those with more are instructed to give a greater percentage of their resources than those with less.

Give only what you have (2 Cor. 8:12):  It is not biblical to give what we do not have.  Even the poor widow who gave all she had to live on did not give what she did not have (Mark 12:44).  We are commanded only to give from the resources that we have available to us.

Give freely (Luke 6:35, Matt. 10:8):  Expectations are sure to spoil even our best attempts at generosity.  Sadly, our approach to generosity is often part of a complex balance sheet where favors are given, returned, owed, and repaid.  God's generosity is not conditional, and neither should ours be.  We are to be wise stewards of our gifts, but we must be careful that we do not destroy our generosity with self-serving expectations.

The Poor: A Cornerstone of Christian Generosity, Part 3

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Secret of Generosity, an excellent book on what the Bible says about the power of generosity. The author has kindly allowed me to publish excerpts of his chapter on "the poor" in support of my Red Kettle Challenge to help the needy. Today's excerpt is a continuation of last week's part 3.

The social justice gospel

In response to the previous portions of this chapter, we are in danger of making a critical mistake.  Excited and inspired to change teams and use our resources to rebuild lives, we are tempted to leave God behind.  There is a growing movement in modern Christianity that minimizes (or eliminates) the spiritual elements of biblical generosity.  This ideology focuses only on the physical effects of generosity such as food, water, or medical treatment, and neglects to offer the Bread of Life (John 6:35), Living Water (John 4:10), or the Great Physician (Matt. 9:12-13).  In a matter of speaking, this viewpoint worships giving itself rather than the God who calls us to live generously—turning faith into social idealism.

We have to take the gospel with us; otherwise, we make ourselves to be humanitarians or philanthropists rather than  Christians.  I believe this is one reason why Peter, immediately after challenging his readers to be eager to do good, reminds them:  “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Pet. 3:15, NIV)

The church must certainly focus on the physical needs of the poor but not in a way that neglects their spiritual needs.  After all, Christ did not come to make this world a better place.  He told us plainly that His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36).  Instead, He died and rose again so that the dead (in sin) may rise with Him (Rom. 5).  This must be our aim as well:  To bring the redemptive, restorative power of the gospel to the broken, needy, and afflicted—not to fix society.  When we focus only on the physical effects of generosity, we begin to trust in the power of our resources rather than our Redeemer—our money rather than our Maker.  The gospel, and the God of it, must go with our generosity.

Should the poor give?

Because of how frequently I get asked this question, I felt it would be beneficial to include it in this chapter.  Before diving in, I would like to start with a little aside:  Study after study has shown time and time again that the poor tend to be more generous (proportionally) with their money than their higher-earning counterparts.  While we often can be a little melodramatic when debating this question, the poor themselves have apparently already answered it!

Should the poor give?  First, the Bible teaches that giving:  “is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.” (2 Cor. 8:12)  Therefore, if someone literally has nothing, then they have nothing to give.  This is permissible by scripture.  Secondly, several passages in the New Testament instruct grace-based giving to be proportional (Acts 11:29), meaning that a person with less means is free to give less.  However, the poor widow in the gospel accounts was unwilling to follow this principle and gave “all she had to live on” (Mark 12:44).  When Jesus observes her doing this, He does not correct her.  He commends her—pointing out her generosity to His disciples.

I think this is an issue where Christians are free to disagree, but personally I believe the poor should give for several reasons.  First and foremost, biblical generosity revolves around the heart.  If giving finds its anchor in the heart not the amount, why is our call to give dependent on our tax bracket?  When we distinguish subgroups as exempt, we unintentionally make giving about numbers.  Focusing on the heart would lead us to believe that the poor should give (even if it is a very small amount).

In addition, biblical giving is about spiritual principles not physical assets.  There are countless lessons in generosity that have nothing to do with money.  We reduce the spiritual aspects of generosity to economics when we instruct the poor to withhold their contributions (not to mention completely neglect God's promise to provide for those who are generous, Luke 12:22-34, Phil. 4:15-19).

Finally, if we say that only a certain income level is called to give, we get into the ugly mess of trying to decide what exactly “poor” means.  It's easy to see how quickly this would get complicated.  For all of these reasons, I would encourage the poor to give what they are able with a cheerful heart and faith in the Father's provision.

Final thought:  Eat your vegetables!

I am not casting the stone.  I have said the same thing to my own children on more than one occasion.  We all know the scene:  Children who won't eat their vegetables are urged on by their parents to do so because “there are starving kids in Africa who would be thankful to have food to eat.”  As I have heard this phrase fall from my own lips, I have begun to wonder just how cramming broccoli down my son or daughter's throat in the name of African children does anything to help the hungry mouths in Africa...or any of the other continents for that matter!  In fact, it gets me thinking that from a very young age we make our children aware of the less fortunate in a context that has nothing to do with helping them.  How powerful would it be if we began to teach our children how to help the starving children of the world rather than keeping that soundbite in our back pocket to help get the vegetables down?

I remember having a meeting in the middle school room at my church and seeing hand-written posters hanging all over the walls.  Curious, and having time to kill, I began to take a closer look.  Each poster was titled:  “How will I be a part of a generous generation?”  Below the question were hand-written answers, signed by their authors, explaining how they were going to try to be a generous Christian in a self-centered, consumption-driven society.  I was inspired.  It gave me hope for tomorrow.  How remarkable of a legacy could we leave if we not only challenged our children with this type of thinking, but also lived out an example to follow?

The Poor, Part 4

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

For the rest of the year I'm going to be highlighting verses relating to the poor on Sundays as a reminder of why I'm doing my $20k Red Kettle Challenge. Here are two for today:

• Proverbs 31:10, 20: Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy.


• Proverbs 29:7 (NIV): The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.

Hope you're having a blessed holiday season.

The Poor: A Cornerstone of Christian Generosity, Part 2

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Secret of Generosity, an excellent book on what the Bible says about the power of generosity. The author has kindly allowed me to publish excerpts of his chapter on "the poor" in support of my Red Kettle Challenge to help the needy. Today's excerpt is a continuation of last week's part 1.

Our hearts

Now what?  If we are a little fearful that we have not done all that we are able to do to help those in need, then we have an evidence of God's Spirit at work within our hearts—burdened to live as His word commands and grieving our lack of wholehearted obedience.  In this place, rest in the grace of Jesus Christ which is able “to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.” (Jude 24)  Then, move forward in obedience.  A desire to utilize our resources to give the helpless hope honors God and gives credibility to the renewal and restoration of our own hearts.

How do we use what we have to help the poor?  Give freely, generously, and intentionally to them.

“If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks...You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.  For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.” (Deu. 15:7-8,10-11)

The fast the Lord chooses:  “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Is. 58:6-7)

The practical application of this critical component is plain and simple:  Be generous to those in need.

Our nation

“Our individual beliefs not only shape our lives, they form a culture that shapes the direction of an entire nation.” - Chuck Bentley

As I read the Lord's commands to the nation of Israel, I can't help but think of our own nation—and our tendency to forget those in need.  Consider the judgment pronounced against Sodom:

“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezek. 16:49)

The guilt of Sodom sounds dangerously close to what we have begun to see in modern America:  Abundant resources and careless ease that amount to virtually no investment in the poor and needy whatsoever.  The NIV translates Sodom's condition as “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned.”  We have to admit this sounds too familiar.

God's word tells us plainly:  “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required.” (Luke 12:48)  In America, we have been given unprecedented levels of prosperity, abundance, and ease.  But what are we doing with all these resources?  Are we using them to redeem the impoverished, restore the broken, and run to the deserted?  Or, are we more concerned with redeeming our rewards points, restoring antiques, and running to the dessert line?  Obviously there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these things, but there is something very wrong with the way that we Americans use nearly if not all of our prosperity to overspend, overeat, and oversleep—and all of this rather unashamedly.  Arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned.

At best, I think the average American Christian, myself included, only helps the poor halfheartedly.  We may write a few checks or serve a few weekends, but we do not live a life of investing in the poor for the sake of Christ and the glory of the Father.  We must begin to recognize that there is something deep in the character of God that we reflect when we care for those who cannot care for themselves.  After all, isn't this the essence of the gospel?  In order to claim this purpose for our lives, we are forced to abandon the worldly ideologies that have been woven into our cultural norms.

Changing teams

“The poor is hated even by his neighbor, but those who love the rich are many.” (Prov. 14:20)

Everyone loves a winner.  Whenever a team wins a championship, their merchandise sales rise sharply.  It's just human nature to associate with the winning team.  Success has many friends.  With equal fanaticism, we distance ourselves from the losers.  From the coach who just got canned to the team that can't seem to pull off a winning season, failures often find themselves at a loss for company.  This bandwagon leaning isn't just true in sports; it's the way we approach life.

Luckily for the tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, and other sinners like us, Jesus didn't have this mentality.  Quite the opposite in fact.  He was criticized for how often he spent time with the lowly esteemed, the social outcasts, and the people whose sin was publicly known (Mark 2:15-17).  Jesus, contrary to the normal way of doing things, constantly found Himself spending time with the people whom society wasn't exactly lining up to be around.

There is a lot to be learned by this tendency in our Savior's company.  Since middle school, we have all been striving to sit at “the cool table”.  We do our best to surround ourselves with people who add value to us instead of investing in the betterment of others.  We desire to be associated with society's winners; consequently, we tend to surround ourselves with the successful, influential, and charismatic rather than follow our Savior to the homes of the broken, desolate, and deserted.

One reason many American Christians struggle to be generous to the poor is because we do anything we can to distance ourselves from them.  All too often as Christians craving comfort, we rarely expose ourselves to real need.  Getting out of the suburbs and putting ourselves in places where we will build relationships with people in need will do wonders for our desire to give generously.

There is something fundamental about the gospel—something about seeing the depths of our own depravity and our desperate need for Christ—that shapes the way we view those in need.  When we truly come to grips with our own sinfulness, we are no longer comfortable speaking of “those in need” without putting our own name on the top of the list.  The gospel exposes us to our poverty apart from Christ and empowers us to bring His riches to the poverty we find in our broken and needy world.  If we are willing to do this, the possibilities for redemption and restoration are as limitless as the God who takes us there.

Rebuilt, repaired, and restored

“If you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday.  And the LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.  Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the age-old foundations; and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.” (Is. 58:10-11)

Rather than crushing us with guilt, the Bible seeks to inspire us to become invested in the lives of the impoverished.  When we focus on the hungry and the afflicted, God promises us blessing, guidance, strength, and resources to rebuild, raise up, repair, and restore.  Christ beckons us to take part in this glorious work.  Imagine the limitless possibilities when the body of Christ brings His restorative power to the broken!

When we bring the practicality of our physical resources, the supernatural power of the gospel, and genuine love, we create a recipe for redemption!  Biblical generosity towards the poor is most effective when it includes all of these components:  body, soul, and spirit.  For example, James insisted upon the necessity of physical resources to go along with our words (James 2:14-16), Jesus emphasized the connection between the spiritual realm and generosity to the poor (Luke 16:19-31), and Paul instructed his readers not to give to the poor without love (1 Cor. 13:3).  This type of wholehearted investment in the lives of the less fortunate brings glory to God and hope to the helpless (Job 5:16).

Before moving on, I feel one minor clarification must be mentioned.  The Bible does distinguish between voluntary and involuntary poverty (Prov. 10:4, 13:18, 14:23, 2 Thes. 3:10-12).  I don't think we should ignore those who are poor by their own choosing (because there are spiritual issues at the bottom of such choices), but I do believe we should focus more intently on those who want a hand up more than a hand out.

The Poor, Part 3

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

For the rest of the year I'm going to be highlighting verses relating to the poor on Sundays as a reminder of why I'm doing my $20k Red Kettle Challenge. Here are two for today:

• 2 Corinthians 9:6-9 (NIV): Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.


• Deuteronomy 15:11 (NIV): There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Hope you're having a blessed holiday season.

The Poor: A Cornerstone of Christian Generosity

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Secret of Generosity, an excellent book on what the Bible says about the power of generosity. The author has kindly allowed me to publish excerpts of his chapter on "the poor" in support of my Red Kettle Challenge to help the needy.

“Remember the poor.” (Gal. 2:10)

At first I was hesitant to add a chapter on poverty for fear that it would turn holiness into humanitarianism.  There is a very real temptation to reduce the Bible's instructions for our giving to nothing more than alleviating the pains of poverty—to minimize the spiritual redemption found in biblical generosity to mere social reform.  This critical mistake focuses only on physical need and neglects spiritual, mental, emotional, and eternal purposes.  That being said, when we consider how much God's word has to say regarding the poor, needy, and afflicted, it would be foolish not to give them due attention.  In light of all these things, we must move through this chapter remembering that caring for the poor is a fruit, not the root, of biblical generosity.  We have to avoid the temptation to minimize God's eternal word to economics.

In addition, it is difficult to discuss the hardships of the poor without struggling against waves of guilt.  Considering the impoverished, destitute, fatherless, and forsaken will engage our emotions, but we must remember what we discussed in an earlier chapter:  Guilt-induced giving is not gospel-induced giving.  My hope for this chapter is that we will all get caught up in the redemptive, restorative heart of our generous Father, and step out with Him into a broken and needy world rather than try to medicate our guilt by writing a few random checks.  I pray earnestly that the following pages will inspire us to join the Lord as He rescues the weak and needy (Ps. 82:4), and gives the helpless hope (Job 5:16).

God's heart

“He defended the cause of the poor and needy...is that not what it means to know me?' declares the LORD.” (Jer. 22:16, NIV)

The poor and needy have an undeniably special place in the heart, plans, and purposes of God.  From Genesis to Revelation, the Lord makes His thoughts towards the poor and afflicted known.  With astonishing clarity, God shows His favor towards those in need.

“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.” (Ps. 113:7)

“The needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” (Is. 29:19)

“He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.” (Prov. 14:31)

“Did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith?” (Jam. 2:5)

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.  Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.” (Luke 6:20-21)

On countless occasions, God calls Himself the Rescuer, Restorer, and Redeemer of those in need.  He goes as far as to say that the manner in which we treat the poor is a reflection of our treatment of Him.  Jesus continued this line of thinking in His teaching as well.

“Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?  And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?'...The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” (Matt. 25:37-40)

God unmistakably connects caring for the poor to His own Presence.  When we are generous to the poor, we honor the Lord, bear His image, and reflect His heart.  Conversely, when we neglect to do so, we taunt our Maker (Prov. 14:31).

“Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'  Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'  Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'  These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt. 25:41-46)

Jesus, along with the rest of the Bible, makes a clear distinction between the righteous and the wicked based upon their treatment of those in need.  “The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor, the wicked does not understand such concern.” (Prov. 29:7)  According to scripture, a genuine concern for the less fortunate is one evidence that the Spirit of God has entered our hearts.

Please hear me clearly:  I am not saying that we are saved by caring for the poor.  What I am saying is that the Bible consistently draws a line in the sand as to whether or not the Spirit of God truly resides in our hearts based upon our treatment of those in need.  Consider the following:

“He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered.” (Prov. 21:13)

“What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” (Jam. 2:14-16)

“Whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17)

“He defended the cause of the poor and needy...is that not what it means to know me?' declares the LORD.” (Jer. 22:16, NIV)

“Jesus said to him, 'If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Matt. 19:21)

Throughout the Old and New Testament, the treatment of the poor is an indicator of much deeper spiritual realities.  Caring for the poor is part of what God said it means to know Him and part of what Jesus said it means to follow Him.

“According to Jesus, you can tell someone is a follower of Christ by the fruit of his or her life, and the writers of the New Testament show us that the fruit of faith in Christ involves material concern for the poor.  Caring for the poor is one natural overflow and a necessary evidence of the presence of Christ in our hearts.  If there is no sign of caring for the poor in our lives, then there is reason to at least question whether Christ is in our hearts.” - David Platt

Avoiding the obvious errors of legalism, we must take the time to reflect over this crucial component of God's heart in our own life.  Are we engaging the heart of our Father and His restorative work with those in need?

In all honesty, we typically consider ministry to the poor as an extra-curricular activity—resume material for the spiritually high achieving.  Yet, the Bible clearly indicates that caring for the broken, needy, and afflicted is basic, fundamental Christianity.  I pray that Christ would meet us here.

Widows, orphans, and aliens (strangers)

Before going further, I feel the need to broaden our definition of “the poor” beyond those simply lacking financial resources.  Throughout the Bible, God extends His commands to care for the poor to include widows, orphans, and aliens (strangers, travelers, or temporary residents).  The scripture clearly indicates that these subgroups have a special place in the heart of God.

First, the Old Testament Law gave specific commands to leave behind portions of produce for widows, orphans, and aliens to gather up (Deu. 24:19-22).  Secondly, every three years a special tithe was collected to provide for their needs (Deu. 14:28-29).  Finally, the New Testament goes as far as calling the care of widows and orphans:  “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless.” (Jam. 1:27, NIV)

The reason behind these commands is that God calls Himself a Father to the fatherless, a Defender of widows, and the Place where the orphan finds mercy (Ps. 68:5, Hos. 14:3).  One story buried in the Old Testament shows this attribute of God well.  In a litany of curses and judgments God is pouring out on the land of Edom through the prophet Jeremiah; He tells the Edomites to flee for He will strip them bare and destroy them as He pours out the cup of His wrath.  In the middle of this pronouncement, He stops for a moment and says:  “Leave your orphans behind, I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in Me.” (Jer. 49:11)  Then, without missing a beat, God continues declaring His judgment against the land of Edom.  The Bible clearly attests of the special care and concern the Father has for widows and orphans.

Jesus comforted His disciples by saying:  “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18)  Let us follow His example.  I pray we would begin to reflect the caring compassion of the Father to the fatherless to our broken world.

The Poor, Part 2

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

For the rest of the year I'm going to be highlighting verses relating to the poor on Sundays as a reminder of why I'm doing my $20k Red Kettle Challenge. Here are two for today:

• Psalm 112:9 (NLT): They share freely and give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor.


• Proverbs 28:27 (NIV): Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. 

Hope you're having a blessed holiday season.

The Poor

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

For the rest of the year I'm going to be highlighting verses relating to the poor on Sundays as a reminder of why I'm doing my $20k Red Kettle Challenge. Here are two for today:

• Proverbs 22:9 (NIV): The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.


• Proverbs 21:13 (NIV): Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.

Hope you're having a blessed holiday season.

Biblical Contentment

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The members of the Christian Financial Alliance recently attempted to define "biblical contentment". Here was my response:

“[It is] being at peace with who you are. In a financial sense, that extends to being at peace with what you have/own as well.”

Really, to me, being content is being happy with what you have -- whether it is a little or a lot.

This doesn't mean that you are not trying to improve your lot in life but that you are happy and peaceful no matter what your financial status.

What's your take on the issue? Do you agree or disagree with me?

Wealth Building from the Old Testament

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Dr. Thomas Stanley (author of The Millionaire Next Door) offers us this wealth-building tip from the Old Testament (he quotes a small business owner who is a millionaire next door):

He often recalled a lesson he learned from the Old Testament: something about 7 bad years and 7 good years. . . .  Be sure to store your grain when grain is plentiful.  In other words, build wealth when demand for one's product is high.

The story he references here is the one told in Genesis 41. Pharaoh has two dreams, asks his magicians and wise men to interpret them, no one can, then one remembers Joseph has the gift of interpreting dreams. They pluck Joseph out of jail (he was there because he was accused falsely) and he tells them what the dreams mean as follows (Genesis 41:25-36, NIV):

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.

“It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.

 “And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.”

Anyone want to guess who the "discerning and wise man" is that Pharaoh puts in charge of the whole land? The story continues with Genesis 41:37-44 (NIV):

The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?”

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.”

This is one of my favorite sections in the Bible. Joseph has gone from a shepherd who was thrown into a well and then sold as a slave by his brothers through a series of events that landed him in jail in Egypt. And in one day he goes from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high. It's a wonderful story of redemption.

As far as personal finances go, it's also a story emphasizing the reason we all need emergency funds and extra savings. Things aren't always going to be as bright as they are today (we've all learned that over the past few years, huh?) There are times extra expenses pop up, times when someone can't work, times when an illness strikes. That's why we need to save now -- for the seven years of famine.

Only let's hope that they last for just a bit. SEVEN YEARS seems pretty severe! ;-)

Should the Poor Give?

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The members of the Christian Financial Alliance recently addressed the issue of whether or not the poor should give. Here was the "question" posed to us all:

Do you believe the Bible teaches the poor should or shouldn’t give?

Here was my answer:

“I believe everyone should give according to their ability. I also believe that a smaller gift from a poorer person is just as 'valuable' as a larger gift from a wealthier person. 2 Corinthians 8:12 says, 'For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.'”

What's your take on the issue? Do you agree or disagree with me?

Why Worry About Money?

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is a guest post from Tim at Faith and Finance, a Christian financial help blog that provides financial insights for individuals, businesses, and churches. Outside of finance, Tim enjoys spending time with his wife, playing the saxophone, reading economics books, and a good game of RISK or Catan.

Charlie Brown had a saying that went something like this: “I’ve developed a new philosophy, I only dread one day at a time.”

For Charlie Brown, he dreaded playing baseball and competing in spelling bees because he could never seem to win. The problem for Charlie Brown was that he would worry about failing so much, that he let it get in the way of doing other fun and exciting things.

Sometimes I feel the same way, except about money.

It’s easy to let student loan payments, $400 emergency vet visits, unexpected $800 root canals and every other little bill bog you down to the point of worrying about balancing next month’s budget. I’m sure you’ve been there too. You keep a budget and plan for the unexpected, but sometimes we just worry about money.

Charlie Brown’s philosophy reminds me a little of this scripture (only Charlie was slightly more negative).

Matthew 6:34: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Jesus was saying this to a crowd that worried about basic items like food and clothing. But what’s interesting to note is that Jesus had a lot to worry about too. He knew that the authorities wanted to trap him, his hometown wouldn’t accept him, some close friends would betray him, and that his time on earth was going to end soon. He had plenty to worry about.

For Jesus to tell them not to worry about the basics like food, clothing and shelter, the crowd had to think he was crazy. But when he reminds us of how God takes care of even the grass of the field, and that the lilies are better dressed than the richest man who ever lived, it makes you realize that he really does have a good point.

It’s not that Jesus was discounting the crowd’s needs or saying that clothing and food aren’t important. I think Jesus wanted to make sure they understood how to set priorities. That’s why he prefaced the verse on worry with this one:

Matthew 6:33: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

We can’t add a single hour to our life by worrying, and we can’t add a single dollar to our bank account either. What I do know is that we can trust that God will provide for our needs. So as long as I’m a good steward with the resources I’ve been blessed with, there’s no need to worry, especially about money.

I know Jesus tells us to have faith and not to worry, but is there a balance between faith and planning ahead? What are your thoughts?

Spiritual Reasons to Get Out of Debt

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The members of the Christian Financial Alliance recently addressed the issue of spiritual reasons for getting out of debt. Here was the "question" posed to us all:

Name one spiritual reason to get out of debt.

Here was my answer:

“Because it’s wise to do so. Every time the Bible talks about debt, it does so as a warning or in a negative light — debt is never presented in a positive manner. The Bible’s wisdom says to avoid debt and the soundness of that advice has been proven time and time again.”

Specifically, I think the recent economic crisis has shown many people who were once believers in "using leverage" (the positive spin some people try to put on being in debt) that debt is not a good thing, that it can bite you very hard, and that the best option is to be as far out of debt as humanly possible.

Agree or disagree?

To Tithe or Not?

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

We've discussed tithing a bit over the past couple of months -- whether it's a requirement for Christians or not. Here's an interesting discussion from CNN that adds to our conversation:

What's your take on the issue?

Where Religion and Business Mix

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The Wall Street Journal says that there are times when religion and business SHOULD mix. In particular, they say it's vital for financial planners to understand their clients' religious perspectives so the planners can incorporate the clients' beliefs into appropriate financial plans. The Journal's thoughts:

Talking about religion is often seen as taboo in business.

But not for some financial advisers. In fact, many of them argue that it's crucial to speak with clients about their religion or spirituality, as a way to gain a full understanding of their financial goals.

"You can't properly plan without addressing this issue," says Martin Shenkman, a Paramus, N.J., estate-planning attorney.

I have to agree 100%. In fact, I made similar remarks over three years ago when I posted Why I Post on The Bible and Money. Here was my first bulletpoint in that article:

[The Bible is] part of my financial life. Some people forget that Free Money Finance is my personal blog and not just a website about money. It is about money, of course, but it's my personal take on finances. I'm telling everyone what's worked for me -- and applying the principles found in the Bible (such as spending less than you earn, minimizing debt, giving, and so on) are key elements in my success.

In other words, the Bible is major part of who I am. So it would be ridiculous to leave out that part of my life when making financial plans -- just like it would be strange to leave out any other major factor in a person's life when developing a financial plan. Because a financial plan is really a LIFE plan, and all aspects of a person's life needs to be taken into account in order to manage their money to meet their specific needs, wants, desires, plans, etc.

Agree or disagree?

Giving and Money Management

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

In a recent post, Crosswalk made the following comment:

Generally, people that give regularly are far better off financially since they make better financial decisions with the remainder of the money.

I have heard that this is true as well -- people who give are generally better money managers.

But I don't think it's because they give that they do better with their money. I'm guessing that people who have control of their finances from all aspects have much more left over than those with no control (makes sense, right?) and thus they have more to give when the opportunity presents itself. In other words, good financial management leads to more giving, not the other way around.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you agree that givers do better with money in general? And why do you think that?

Generosity as the Antidote to Envy

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Sound Mind Investing says that generosity is the antidote to envy. In the post, the author tells the story of how he and his wife gave up an inherited set of appliances to someone they felt needed them more. As a result of giving, the couple felt like they experienced a bit less of the envy many of us feel when we see our friends and family with newer/bigger/better things (cars, homes, vacations, etc.)

It's a constant battle against keeping up with the Joneses, isn't it? We see, we envy, we want. And the next step for most people is "we buy." It's the cycle that not only keeps our focus on accumulating more stuff, but that also gets us mired in debt, not saving like we should, and the like.

Giving tends to take the focus of "stuff" and put it on "people." When you are helping to heal, feed, clothe, etc. people by giving of your money and time, all those extra things seem much less important. In this way, I agree with SMI that giving is an antidote for envy.

Whenever I consider this issue, I'm always reminded of the scene in Schindler's List where he notes that things he accumulated could have actually been used to save more people's lives (even though he had already saved many people from death.) Here it is (it's a bit hard to hear, but it's the best version I could find):

This isn't to say that we shouldn't accumulate anything at all or that we shouldn't have "nice" things. I know that this line of thinking can be taken to an extreme as well -- and thus conclude that we should give EVERYTHING away. What I'm saying is that there's a need for both balance and perspective. To me it seems as if much of America has crossed the line of reason into an almost fanatical desire for more stuff, much of it spurred on by envy of what others own. All I'm suggesting is that we step back a bit, look at the world around us, and consider giving a bit to help those in need. Doing so will help fight those demons of envy.

Great, Free Christian Financial Ebooks

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Not as much of a post today as a point to some great (and free!) Christian financial ebooks. Sound Mind Investing is offering four free ebooks as follows:

• Seven Key Principles for Christian Investing - This report explains how to develop a biblically informed investing blue print that will make your investing more purposeful - and profitable.


• IRAs, 401(k)s and Social Security: A Retirement Primer - Worried that you won't have enough money for retirement? Then it's time to take action. This free report will help you get a clear picture of where you stand - and help you take steps to build your retirement nest egg.


• Gold as an Investment: Will Precious Metals Continue To Shine? - This report will provide you with an understanding of our current fiscal crisis and how gold can help stabilize your portfolio in a rising inflationary environment. You'll learn about different gold investing strategies and practical examples of how to take ownership of gold.


• Inflation History: The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Dollar - This report will provide you with an understanding of what money is, how it works, and how too much money has lead to inflation in the past. And you'll see why many people are concerned that conditions are ripe for a future inflationary spiral.

I am a fan of Sound Mind Investing. Their investing book is what I used in my early days of investing and I recommend it to anyone who asks me for a good investment book recommendation. I've reviewed both their book and their website and like them both.

And for those cynical people out there (yes, there are always some), this is not a paid endorsement. I honestly like what they offer and thought my readers might want a few free financial ebooks. If you do, you can see them at this link.

Enjoy!

Using Religion to Steal Money

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Here's an interesting post from US News on how some people use scams in the church to steal money from others. I find it almost unbelieveable that this would happen, but it's a fact of life. The church is generally a trusting environment and where scammers can find trusting people, they can also find easy prey.

I had an interaction with a church scammer a few years ago. "Jim" called me up after he was referred to me by a pastor I knew. I met with him in my office where Jim proceeded to tell me about this real estate investment company he said God had "revealed" to him. He even cried in parts where he told the story of his past life.

Always a bit cautious, I asked a friend in real estate to check Jim out. My friend did and Jim came back with a clean bill of health -- his business was legit (or seemed that way). I ultimately decided not to invest with him for other reasons, but I did consider asking him to be on the board of a non-profit I work with since he'd given them a large donation recently.

In the meantime, I had an acquaintance who needed some help selling her house. I sent her to Jim (FYI, I told her to network with him, but didn't suggest she invest with him) because he had been recommended to me both by the pastor and my real estate friend. She eventually signed up with Jim to do a complicated real estate transaction that I heard didn't go well.

Anyway, a few months after that I saw another pastor in the church and he told me Jim was a scammer. He had caught Jim in several bad financial dealings with members of the church. The pastor (a different one than the original pastor who sent Jim to me) acknowledged that Jim was very smooth and had conned many people. A week later, I saw on the local news that Jim was on the lamb for running a Ponzi scheme around real estate and that his wife had turned him in to police.

Needless to say, it was quite a mess.

My overall takeaway from this experience is that you need to use as much discernment in managing money with contacts from the church as you would in any other case. I wish it wasn't that way, but it is.

Help a Reader: What to Tithe On

Here's a question a reader recently posted on Questions About Tithing and it seemed especially appropriate to post it on a Sunday:

My husband and I are separated, living in different houses but still respect one another as husband and wife. We are still living off of the same income, his pay check. I am a stay-at-home mother to the children.

He doesn't like the tithe and offering thing, yet I do. Or shall I say I agree that it is truth. Come every paycheck, he separates a portion of the paycheck for himself and gives the remaining to me. Question: must I pay the tithe from his gross or the amount he gives me each paycheck?

I have tithed on both but would seriously like absolute closure on this. I don't want to do this ignorantly and suffer out of ignorance. I would like to go about this correctly because when the budget looks kind of cutting things close I begin to wonder whether I really must be tithing from the gross.

Also, are you absolutely certain we don't have to tithe the tax returns? I mean you made a good point and I never questioned the tithe further than tithing all incomings.

What's your advice for her?

Defining Biblical Generosity

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Recently some of the Christian Financial Alliance members addressed the following: "In your own words, define biblical generosity."

Here's my answer:

“Loving your neighbor by using money to make his life better in some way.”

What I was trying to get at -- and probably needed to explain a bit more -- was that biblical generosity is an other-focused sacrifice. It's something you give up to help someone else, without care for what you might have been able to do with the gift yourself. When you can get to that point, you're being biblically generous IMO. 

I'm interested in knowing your take on this issue. How do you define "biblical generosity"?

Defining Stewardship

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Recently some of the Christian Financial Alliance members answered the question "In your own words, define 'Stewardship'?"

Here's my answer:

"Stewardship is acknowledging that you’re a manager of God’s property that He’s entrusted to you, knowing that He’ll want an account of your performance someday and that eventually all you manage will be passed on to another to do the same.”

The other responses are interesting as well. If you want to see what others say, click through to the link above.

If you want to see more of my thoughts on this issue, check out The Proper Perspective, Living a Life of Genuine Stewardship, and Thoughts on Stewardship.

I'm interested in knowing your take on this issue. How do you define "stewardship"?

How to Balance Giving and Saving

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Recently some of the Christian Financial Alliance members answered the question "How do you balance the biblical principle of saving up for the future and the biblical principle of giving generously?"

Here's my answer:

"Here’s how my pastor explained it to me (and I think it works): First of all, the tithe (10%) comes off the top. After that, any money given needs to be determined by the individual (or couple) after prayer. God calls different people to give different amounts, so there’s no “right” answer as to what should be given after the tithe.  Given this, I recommend starting with the 10-10-80 budget — 10% given away, 10% saved, and 80% on living expenses. As time goes on, people earn more, etc., the “10s” should get bigger and the “80″ should get smaller.”

This was the general consensus of the people responding, though most had a bit of a different spin on it. If you want to see responses from others, click through to the link above.

I'm interested in knowing your take on this issue. How do you balance the biblical principle of saving up for the future and the biblical principle of giving generously?

The Generous are Blessed

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Consider this from Proverbs 22:9 (New International Version):

The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

How many times have you talked to someone who's been especially giving (with money, time, or anything) and they've said something like, "I received more than I gave"? I think that's one aspect of what this verse is talking about -- that when a person gives or serves to help others, they get a feeling of being blessed that's somewhat indescribable. They feel that even though they were the ones who gave up money, time, or effort, that they got more out of the experience than they put in.

I know I've felt like this before, especialy when helping the poor, those impacted by national disasters, and those living in destitute areas of the world -- people who truly need help just to survive. It's really a small sacrifice in the overall scheme of things for me to give and I do feel blessed to be able to do it.

How about you? have you ever given of your time or money and felt like you were blessed simply for doing it?

Help a Reader: What to Tithe

Here's an email I recently received from a reader and it seemed especially appropriate to post it on a Sunday:

I recently decided to go off on my own full time as a self-employed individual. This started last week. Up until then, I've been a W2 employee with withholding. So I am not in a terrible rush to figure this out for my first estimated payment. I chose to go with a single member LLC with taxes passed through to me as an individual/sole proprietor. I am trying to figure out what to "take" as a "salary". In the eyes of the law all of the money coming in is "mine" so the salary is really just a way to attempt to establish a recurring budget to stick with. I know I can deduct my own payment for health insurance right off the top and I can eventually deduct 1/2 of the self-employment taxes I pay off the top. Then I'll have standard business deductions (cell phone, travel, etc.). I still find myself stuck on the salary question and that brings up a tough question on the tithe budgeting question.

Before going full time, I took home roughly $7,000 a month. I have no clue what I'll be taking home each month self-employed and I am starting out quite busy for the next 3 months so I have a good feeling I'll be able to sock some away in the business savings and I plan on making my "salary" (transfer from business account to personal account really) work out to $7,000 a month.

Here is the rub, though - that math is easy. That means I'll be "taking home" roughly $84,000 a year. With the self-employment tax, income tax, health insurance, cell phone and internet access coming out of the business account. Sort of stable with where I was. I will then be paying the self-employment tax out of the business account as well as my income tax and leaving a cushion (hopefully) in the business account to cover rough months - and occasionally draw a bonus to help pay down some debt as the business and growth allows me to do that but still know where the next couple months’ salary is coming from if I had no work for those 2 months (a business emergency fund.. one that I would like to grow over time to more months but I want to get my vehicle and some consumer debt paid as well).

So I am trying to do a budget and figure out a tithe. Today I tithe on my annual salary and give over that to a few ministries. We've been blessed in numerous ways as a result. We don't give to be blessed but He has certainly been faithful. I don't want to tithe only on the $7,000 a month draw. I also feel led to tithe on my entire income. I consider every check that comes in to me (directly or to my business which is still me) as an "increase" and I want to give the first of it to God.

But when I don't know what my income will be week by week or month by month, I am at a loss for how to budget. Part of me says "all of that money will eventually transfer from the business to you someday, so just figure out your salary - the 7,000/month plus the cost of health insurance, cable, cell phone and the monthly breakdown of tax payments to get a "rough" gross pay idea and tithe on that... but then I still have that "other money" if I have a good month that won't get tithed on until the money transfers accounts.

My fear isn't giving too much, or too little. My fear is just trying to figure out how to properly budget and allocate for it. FYI, I have an accountant who is also a Christian and I plan on bringing this up to him for our meeting in September.

What are your thoughts for him?

Use All Resources to Advance God’s Kingdom

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Root of Riches.

The Bible never condemns wealth; it only warns or condemns when money is gained through evil or used for foolish purposes.

Like any organization, Crown Financial Ministries looks for honest men to serve in our missions around the world. It hasn’t always easy to find them. Eventually, our continent leader in Africa developed a method to determine who should join our organization. He calls it the “Money Test” and it works like this.

When someone expresses interest in joining Crown’s mission, the leader arranges a phone call and asks the candidate to submit a budget for launching the ministry in the candidate’s country.

After reviewing the budget, the leader will say that he wants to fly out to meet in person for an interview and that he is sending a few hundred dollars in advance for expenses. He asks the candidate to keep receipts for how the money is used.

Later, after the face-to-face interview is completed, the leader asks for the receipts. In almost every case, receipts are produced showing the money was spent on hotel rooms, meals and other expenses related to the visit. The interview concludes.

Unbeknownst to the candidate, the leader then stays an extra day in that country contacting hotels, restaurants and car rental companies to ask about their rates. All too often, the receipts indicate costs higher than the actual rates, indicating they’ve been falsified and the difference was pocketed by the prospective new hire.

Candidates who fail this small “Money Test” lose their opportunity for the far greater reward of a long-term job.

I believe God gives each one of us a “Money Test.” He advances resources to us and will demand an accounting of how we spend the money. He is only interested in one question: Did you use money for your own interests or His?

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? Luke 16:11

To those who pass the “Money Test,” the long- term rewards are defined as the true riches. These are the blessings of living according to God’s financial principles and enjoying both the present and eternal rewards for faithfulness to Him. These are the riches that cannot be lost, stolen or destroyed in contrast to
mere worldly wealth.

The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22 (ESV)

Save a Portion of All Your Earnings

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Root of Riches.

We must take care when saving money because it can be either good or evil, depending on the motive.

On the one hand, it’s wise to save money for the future:

The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets. Proverbs 21:20 (TLB)

On the other hand, the Bible makes it clear we are not to rely on money as a substitute for our dependence on God.

Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God. Luke 12:21 (NLT)

The practice of saving money varies widely by culture. I have been in African villages where saving money is nonexistent. Instead of money, these villagers view their relationships with family and neighbors as a form of savings and protection against future needs. While we might be tempted to judge them harshly for not saving, we are advised to respect the poor for being “rich in faith.” Often, they have no other options but to trust God for their daily bread.

I have also taught in Asian cities where the average personal saving rate is 30% or more of their annual income. They have a high degree of discipline and control that enables them to store for the future. Often this drive is from what they describe as a “survival instinct.”

Does the one culture practice wasteful spending and the other hoarding? We should be careful not to condemn or endorse either group without knowing their true motive for saving or not saving money.

Wasteful spending presumes that God will always provide for us even if we fail to do our part. Hoarding, on the other hand, presumes that we are “on our own” and that God will not keep His promise to provide for our needs. Both must be avoided.

We must have financial surplus to meet unplanned expenses and to share with others in need. However, it’s also important to avoid growing dependent on money alone. Perceived financial “independence” can in reality be a hidden form of financial dependence, relying on money instead of God. Hebrews 13:5 should govern our attitude about financial surplus, regardless of the amount we save.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

The implication here is that money will leave you and forsake you. God is making it known that money alone as a form of security is unreliable and that we are to trust Him to provide.

The Bible on Working

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Root of Riches.

Work gives meaning to life. It is the form in which we make ourselves useful to others.

This quote, by Lester DeKoster, the former director of the Calvin College and Seminary library, condenses the importance of this simple yet profound truth, that work is the basis for all that we are put on earth to accomplish.

You and I were designed by God to work. Work is not a curse that we must endure, it is the way we experience purpose, meaning and joy. It’s what we were created to do . . . work and produce. In fact, not working is takes a greater toll on us in the long run. I don’t mean resting and taking care of our bodies, but avoiding work altogether, which is the road to misery and ruin.

Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, wrote, “God created human beings in His own image and part of being ‘in His image’ means that we are workers—like God Himself. That’s where that innate, inner drive for work comes from. Work is part of God’s nature.”

Since we are created in God’s image and divinely ordained for work, we are to rule over the lower creation. This distinctive trait allows for self-expression, the potential to be used for great causes to serve the needs of the world and to bring glory to God in the process.

As He Trees, our work should be excellent in every way. Christians should be the most desired of all employees or employers in the world. Why? Because we believe in the dignity of hard work and strive to do our best with the motivation that we are representing the God who created us for His purposes. His Word gives us clear instruction to work hard:

Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might. Ecclesiastes 9:10

You shall work six days. Exodus 34:21

If anyone will not work, neither let him eat. 2 Thessalonians 3:10

In my travels, I’ve experienced cultures where work is not valued or practiced among the men in the community. The consequences that result from these practices are always misery suffering and extreme poverty. Far too often, Christians attempt to treat only the symptoms of poverty through generosity and
charitable help alone. Unfortunately, if we avoid dealing with the root issue in these cultures, a lack of knowledge of God and His teachings, their errant beliefs remain unchanged. Misery simply returns when the giving stops.

However, if we make it our mission to plant He Trees in this community, the bountiful fruit produced by transformed people will be an ongoing witness to the goodness of God and His ways. But that’s not all!
Lester DeKoster expanded his insight into the exponential impact of our work on the whole of civilization:

Lay a blanket of seeds upon a field, and behold, a harvest! Lay a blanket of work upon the world, and behold, a civilization!

Work in the Area Where God has Given You Skill

It honors the Father when we are true to work according to our design. Ralph Mattson and Arthur Miller make this point quite well in their book, Finding a Job You Can Love:

We please God when we act the way we are designed to act, when we are who God designed us to be. When such actions are carried out with the intention of being expressions of love to Him, they do in fact become expressions of love to Him.

A friend once helped me understand the importance of knowing God’s unique design of my inner man. He encouraged me to seek understanding of my gifts, interests, skills and values and to operate accordingly in my chosen area of work. He said, “Chuck, a John Deere Tractor is not a Mercedes Benz and a
Bulldog is not a Chihuahua, so you would not attempt to plow a field driving a Mercedes or train the Bulldog to sit in your lap. Likewise you should not work in an area where God has not designed you to be successful.” How true.

Can you imagine a bluebird trying to be a woodpecker just so it can attract more attention? His bill is not equipped for drilling holes. A bluebird honors its Creator by being a very beautiful bluebird. Likewise, those who recognize their talents and use them for the glory of God become a magnificent testimony to the work of the Creator.

Since our work is meant to reflect God’s glory, we need to recognize this as the proper motivation for our labors. Our work is a sacred act of worship. It is a daily opportunity to share God’s goodness. If we are motivated by greed, pride or a desire to become powerful in man’s world, we fail to achieve our life’s
purpose.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

. . . And every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded. Exodus 36:1

Luck is for Losers

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Root of Riches.

I once led a Bible study attended by six couples who lived in Dallas’s most expensive neighborhood. At one memorable session, the wife of a successful corporate lawyer said she felt that they “did not have as much as other couples in their neighborhood.”

The woman said this with a tinge of bitterness in her voice. She obviously wanted more than her very wealthy peers.

She went on, to her husband’s embarrassment, telling the entire group that every week she pins her hopes for a financial windfall on “six lucky numbers.” She admitted to buying a lottery ticket in hopes of striking it rich in order to keep pace with her neighbors. She was obviously controlled by an upscale version of “Keeping Up With the Jones.”

Besides the error in her judgment, I should mention here that I don’t believe in random luck, karma, or that anything in the world is outside of God’s sovereign control. Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

Despite everyone’s discomfort (but hers), it was a “teachable moment.” As gently as possible, I shared with her that this plan was a terrible idea, as her husband quietly nodded his head in agreement. I explained that gambling, and lotteries in particular, are for those who are mathematically challenged. Let me prove it.

Researchers have determined that a person who drives 10 miles to buy a lottery ticket is three times more likely to be killed in a car accident while driving to buy the ticket than he is to win the jackpot. Yet, even with nearly impossible odds of ever winning a dime, one out of every four Americans believes their best chance of getting rich is by playing the lottery.

The Bible aptly describes those who are willing to put common sense aside in the pursuit of wealth:

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 1 Timothy 6:9

There is a danger in interpreting this verse too narrowly, assuming that it applies only to business failures, financial losses or economic disasters. The warning covers financial success as well.

How to Spot a Me Tree

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Root of Riches.

It is not wrong to have an abundance of money and possessions. However, it is wrong to be a Me Tree. The Me Tree is alluded to throughout the Bible, because the Lord knows exactly how this tree operates. Once its primary roots—the love of self, money and pleasure—have taken hold in the heart, the secondary roots go in search of food to keep the tree growing and to satisfy its desires. Our fallen world is filled with all the food the Me Tree is so desperately seeking.

These characteristics will help you identify the Me Trees around you. These are people with their root systems firmly entangled in the world.

• They run after things.

Things are very important to the Me Tree. In fact, they run after them.

So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. Matthew 6:31-32

• They are greedy for money.

Me Trees will do practically anything to get ahead. According to the apostle Peter, even people in the church, doing “the Lord’s work” can use their positions for personal gain.

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve. 1 Peter 5:2

• They are eager to get rich.

Me Trees are preoccupied with opportunities to make excessive amounts of money. Relationships with others are carefully calculated for their economic value.

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 1 Timothy 6:9

• They think godliness is a means to financial gain.

Some of the best examples of Me Trees teach the prosperity gospel, attempting to convince others that godliness is a means to financial gain. Ever notice how they really seem to enjoy money themselves? It’s no coincidence. Their personal doctrine is a feeder root tapped right into the love of money, but they use
the Bible to justify it. The Lord calls these false teachers out and warns us to run from their teaching.

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 1 Timothy 6:5

• They live with the desire to eat, drink and be merry.

Me Trees seek to satisfy their every desire and view the increase of comfort and pleasure as the ultimate reason for living. They crave only to be comfortable and happy. Pleasure is their purpose.

And I’ ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” Luke 12:19

• They have a continual craving for more money.

Me Trees love money and can’t get enough of it. Their feeder roots restlessly seek out more and more and are never satisfied, no matter how much wealth they acquire.

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. Ecclesiastes 5:10

• They are deceived by wealth and the desire for more things.

Some Me Trees are fully aware of what the Bible says about obedience, generosity and loving our neighbors. Their feeder roots, however, have choked off the Word of God and killed the good fruit.

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:18-19

• They place their hope and security in wealth.

This is the most common trap for the Me Tree. He stores his hope and trust in his bank account instead of in God. Since he is always vulnerable to life’s uncertainties, he cannot have real peace and, therefore, never any spiritual growth.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1 Timothy 6:17

• They lose all contentment.

This Me Tree is never happy and always needs more security, success and significance.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

• They covet other people’s things.

One of the most ignored of the Ten Commandments is not to covet your neighbor’s things. A Me Tree is always comparing his lot in life with others and wanting what they have acquired. He cannot be happy for the success of others.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Exodus 20:17

• They will sneer at Jesus’ teaching and ultimately reject His Words.

Me Trees can be very “religious,” but their feeder roots have no discernment for the truth. Jesus’ teachings hold no special meaning. These Me Trees are indiscriminate and they’ll feed on the nuttiest ideas to satisfy their unmet lust for wealth or fame. By the way, the world is all too happy to supply those crazy philosophies. Remember the “carnival barkers” dressed in business suits?

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. Luke 16:14

Religions and Money

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Here's an interesting piece from the NY Times that says your religion may determine your financial destiny. A summary:

The most affluent of the major religions — including secularism — is Reform Judaism. Sixty-seven percent of Reform Jewish households made more than $75,000 a year at the time the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life collected the data, compared with only 31 percent of the population as a whole. Hindus were second, at 65 percent, and Conservative Jews were third, at 57 percent.

On the other end are Pentecostals, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Baptists. In each case, 20 percent or fewer of followers made at least $75,000. Remarkably, the share of Baptist households making $40,000 or less is roughly the same as the share of Reform Jews making $100,000 or more. Overall, Protestants, who together are the country’s largest religious group, are poorer than average and poorer than Catholics. That stands in contrast to the long history, made famous by Max Weber, of Protestant nations generally being richer than Catholic nations.

Many factors are behind the discrepancies among religions, but one stands out. The relationship between education and income is so strong that you can almost draw a line through the points on this graph. Social science rarely produces results this clean.

A few thoughts:

• I think we all know that what makes someone wealthy isn't what you make (income), it's what you keep (that grows your net worth.) And yet we have another piece touting affluence that relies on income measures. Ugh.


• I'm not surprised to see Jews as high earners. We've discussed here before that they, as a group on average, are better educated and thus often make more money.


• I was surprised to see Protestants at the bottom. Wasn't part of the "Protestant work ethic" supposed to be wealth? Then again, maybe they are wealthier (in net worth), but they just earn less. This piece doesn't tell us.


• I think we all know there's a relationship between education and income and, for the most part, the more education you get, the higher your income. That said, the piece doesn't factor in the debt associated with higher education, so again it's hard to see the clear results.

Any thoughts on this that I missed?

Using Some Self-Control is Good for Your Finances

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Here's an interesting verse from Proverbs 21:17 (New International Version):

Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.

Now I don't think this is talking about enjoying yourself being a bad decision. But to me it does speak of excess. Sure, partake in the finer things in life and treat yourself -- but do so in moderation. Don't go overboard. Because if you do, your finances will be negatively impacted.

A couple cases that illustrate this principle quite well:

• Celebrities with high incomes that are broke. Seems like they are all over the place. Why? Because they love to treat themselves in very extravagant ways. And as such, they don't do well financially.


• The Joneses. These are your neighbors and friends (hopefully not you) that regularly need new cars, luxurious vacations, the latest technology, the latest fashionable clothes, and on and on. But studies show that these people are simply digging themselves into a financial hole because they can't contain their spending on themselves.

As I said earlier: enjoy life. Treat yourself regularly. But don't get crazy about it. Otherwise your finances will suffer and you "will become poor."

Trying to Get Rich Quick Will Lead to Trouble

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Here's an interesting verse from Proverbs 28:20 (New Living Translation):

The trustworthy person will get a rich reward, but a person who wants quick riches will get into trouble.

I'd like to focus on the back half of that statement -- that those who want to get rich quick get into trouble.

I thought about it and came up with this list of the things people do to try and get rich quick that often get them into trouble (financially or otherwise):

• Regularly play the lottery
• Invest a lot in a "hot stock tip"
• Make rash career decisions
• Do something illegal (like steal)
• Count on an inheritance as their sole form of financial planning
• Start a business without really thinking it through

Anything you'd like to add? I'm sure there are many more get-rich-quick schemes that you can add to my list.

The fact is, the only true/fairly certain (barring a major illness or some other catastrophe) way to become wealthy is to do it slowly by growing your income, containing expenses, and saving/investing the difference for as long as you can. If you save a bit each year and invest it properly, it really does add up.

Actually, the Bible has a verse for this line of thinking too. Proverbs 13:11 (New International Version) says:

Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

Comments?

Money, Marriage, and Difficulty

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Recently some of the Christian Financial Alliance members answered the question "What do you think is the biggest struggle for married couples when it comes to money?" Here's my answer:

"Being on the same page concerning all the aspects of personal finance: earning, saving, spending, giving, etc.”

Thankfully, my wife and I have very similar thoughts about how to handle money (we attended a Larry Burkett Bible study shortly after we were married, and that had a GREAT impact in making us see eye-to-eye.) Of course, like any couple, we do have our differences. But these are few and far between and are settled relatively quickly and without much trouble. It's been a big blessing to our marriage that finances haven't been an issue -- especially since we know how many marriages are impacted by disagreements over finances (many of them leading to divorces.)

So my advice for how to get on the same page as your spouse financially would be to attend a Crown Financial Ministries, Dave Ramsey (held at many churches), or some similar, Bible-based (yes, Dave Ramsey uses biblical references in his teachings) as a couple, preferably as soon after your married (or even prior to marriage) as possible.

I'm interested in knowing your take on this issue. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Forget the Outward Appearance

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

In a recent post, Dr. Thomas J. Stanley (author of The Millionaire Next Door) quoted 1 Samuel 16:7 which says (in part):

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

This verse appears when God had rejected Saul as leader of Israel. The prophet Samuel was sent to Jesse of Bethlehem to pick out a new king for the country among Jesse's sons. When Samuel saw Jesse's first son, he was sure this was the one to be selected because the son had a fine appearance. But God had a different plan. Here's how it went down in verses 6 and 7:

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

No, God didn't look at the outward appearance but looked within each person. Then he found David to be the best selection because he was a man after God's own heart (1 Sam 13:14). This despite the fact that David was merely a boy at the time (and certainly didn't look like a king.)

So what does this have to do with personal finances? Dr. Stanley makes these two comments:

First, never judge the true quality of a person by what can be purchased.  Second, often people who dress and drive as if they are rich are not.

The outward appearance often says people are "wealthy". They live in nice homes and drive expensive cars. But when we look at the way things really are, we find out that the wealthy actually live in good but not over-priced homes and drive reasonably-priced cars. It's quite a different story than what outward appearances seem to project.

Looking at outward appearances is the biggest factor in trying to keep up with the Joneses. And as we've seen, trying to keep up with them is a fool's game that will keep you broke.

So instead of worrying about the outward appearance your finances project, work on making sure the inward appearances (investment accounts and the like) are solid. This is how you build wealth.